


The Best Thing

by Browneyesparker



Series: Love Scenes [7]
Category: The Mentalist
Genre: Angst, Broadway, F/M, Fluff, Friendship, Hurt/Comfort, Romance, Songfic, Stephen Sondhiem, The Best Thing That Ever Happened
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-11
Updated: 2014-01-11
Packaged: 2018-01-08 09:49:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,561
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1131193
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Browneyesparker/pseuds/Browneyesparker
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The truth is Teresa that I miss us. Our partnership. . . our friendship, I miss everything that was you and me. I want you back, I don’t care what people say or think about it. There are always going to be people who say things or think things and it shouldn’t matter to either of us because we’re good together. You’re the best thing that ever happened to me. I am nothing without you. You saved me all those years ago and I don’t think I’ll ever be able to let you go</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Best Thing

_To think I’d meet someone who could surprise me, and seize me up without counting me down._

**The Best Thing That Ever Happened, Bounce**

  
“I’ll be there soon,” Teresa Lisbon said sweetly as she glanced over in Patrick Jane’s direction. “I have a couple of things that I have to finish up here before I can get off for lunch. Okay, see you in a little bit. ‘Bye.”

She hung up and Jane looked up at the ceiling, pretending to count the cracks there. He knew she wanted to say something to him about eavesdropping on her private conversations. But she refrained from doing so because she knew it would only detain her from finishing her work and consequently from her date with the mysterious man on the other end of the phone.

When Jane was sure that she wasn’t looking at him anymore, he lowered his head and stole a long glance at her. He could feel the distance between them even more acutely than he had during his two year absence from her life. She was right there in front of him, but she had moved on with her life, had written him off almost completely. And he hated it with every fiber of his being.

He hadn’t expected that they’d become lovers right off the bat, but he had wanted a chance to restore their friendship and partnership. He had wanted a chance to woo her and to finally be able to tell her how he felt without taking it back. But it never had a chance to happen the way he wanted it to, because even though she was back in his life, she had written the new terms in their new relationship. Some days they wouldn’t even speak to each other, and he felt like she was punishing him.

“You can stop staring at me,” Lisbon said, interjecting into his thoughts as she stood up. “I’m going to go and have lunch now. I’ll see you later.”

Jane got up from the couch and followed her. “Lisbon, wait!”

Lisbon turned around and looked at him, shaking her head. “Not now Jane, I’m already late as it is without you holding me up. We’ll talk later, okay?”

“No,” Jane said. “We need to talk now.”

He took her by the wrist and dragged her to the janitor’s closet, ignoring her protests the whole way. He had played by her terms long enough; he was finally going to lay all his cards on the table and pursue her like a relentless lover.

“What are we doing in _here_!?” She asked, twisting out his grip and yanking on the chord above their heads, bathing the closet in dim light.”

“This is the only place we can talk without anybody overhearing us,” Jane answered. “I thought you’d be pleased that I was worried about your reputation.”

Lisbon’s mouth dropped open. “What _are_ you talking about?” she asked.

“Your _reputation_ ,” Jane repeated. “That is why you’re redefining our whole relationship, isn’t it? One too many people have called us out on our couple status. And you want to dispel them of those beliefs. Am I right?”

“I have to go,” Lisbon replied, “Somebody’s waiting for me.”

Jane didn’t move away from the door. “I’m not letting you go. Not until we talk,” he told her.

Lisbon sat down on an overturned bucket, sighing impatiently as she pulled her phone out and fired off a text. “You are such a child,” she said.

He ignored her and plowed onward, not sure what he was going to do or say next. “The truth is Teresa that I miss us. Our partnership. . . our friendship, I miss _everything_ that was you and me. I want you back, I don’t care what people say or think about it. There are always going to be people who say things or think things and it shouldn’t matter to either of us because we’re good together. You’re the best thing that ever happened to me. I am nothing without you. You saved me all those years ago and I don’t think I’ll ever be able to let you go.”

“Is that all?” Lisbon asked.

Jane shook his head, wishing she could look into the very depths of his heart and see the torment that was there. He wished she was a mind reader so she could see everything that he wanted to say but didn’t know how to. He was terribly out of practice.

“Say it,” she prodded, her expression softening. “It’s just me. You know that you’ve always been able to talk to me about whatever you wanted to. That hasn’t changed, it never will. . .”

He did it quickly, like pulling a Band-Aid off that had been on for way too long. He didn’t look directly at her as the confession spilled from his lips. He was afraid of what he would see if he did. When it was finished, he allowed himself to steal a glance at her.

She looked dumbfounded but at the same time, she looked like she had known the truth all along. He waited a beat for her to say something, but she didn’t say anything. For a moment, he was afraid that she wouldn’t say anything to him. That it would all be really over for the rest of their lives.

Lisbon stood up and Jane was sure that all his fears were going to be confirmed. He stepped away from the door, ready to let her go. But instead of leaving, she turned to him and framed his face with her hands. He froze, for once in his life, unable to read the situation.

“Say it again,” she whispered. “Slower.”

Jane released a deep breath and looked her directly in the eyes this time. “I love you,” he repeated.

**.**

After he had told Lisbon a second time that he loved her, she had left him alone in the janitor’s closet. He had no idea where she was going, or what she was doing. He had thought that after he had been so honest with her, they would have at least embraced and that she would have repeated his confession. He hadn’t foreseen her abandoning him without so much as much a word of goodbye.

After recovering from the shock of being left alone, he had left the closet and settled on his couch, subjecting himself to an hour of Cho and Fischer’s subtle flirting (a sign that their clandestine lunch date had gone well). Just when he thought he couldn’t stand waiting any longer, Lisbon reappeared.

“Jane, could I talk to you alone?” She asked, ignoring the odd look Fischer tossed her and Cho’s knowing smile.

“Of course,” Jane answered.

And then, they were back in the janitor’s closet.

“I had to keep my lunch date,” she told him. “I had to. . . I had to tell him that I couldn’t keep pretending, it wouldn’t have been fair to any of us if I did that—”

Jane frowned. “Pretending? What do you mean you were pretending? Were you trying to make me chase you?”

Lisbon grinned. “Not really, that was _completely_ unintentional. But I’m glad that it happened. No, I was actually trying to help Gibson, the mailroom guy get Cindy from accounting’s attention.”

“Why is it always the mailroom guy?” Jane asked.

“What?”

“Never mind,” Jane answered. “You were saying?”

“I told Gibson what happened between you and me this afternoon. I said that I couldn’t continue to be his fake girlfriend, not when I loved somebody else. I strongly encouraged him to stop dating girls because it wasn’t succeeding in getting Cindy’s attention. I suggested he just come out and tell her how he feels about her because sometimes that’s the most effective thing you can do.”

“And what did he say?”

“He was happy for me,” Lisbon answered. “But I’m not sure he’ll every pluck up the courage to tell Cindy how he feels though. He’ll just keep on admiring her from far away and trying to get her attention by going out with other girls.”

“Mmmmh,” Jane agreed.

Lisbon laughed. “You stopped paying attention to me, didn’t you?”

“Hardly,” Jane replied, coming over and pulling her to her feet. “I was just thinking about how you said you loved me.”

“I didn’t say that I loved you,” Lisbon whispered, not blinking for a second.

“You were thinking it though,” Jane told her. “You wouldn’t have asked to talk to me if you weren’t.”

Lisbon laughed. “Okay, okay! So, you still have me all figured out, I love you too.”

And then she kissed him even though they were still in the FBI building and anybody could walk in on them at any given moment. After a few seconds she pulled away and smiled at him wordlessly as she smoothed out the lapels on his jacket.

“We better go,” Jane whispered. “If we’re gone any longer, Fischer might get suspicious and come looking for us.”

“I know,” Lisbon answered, kissing him quickly. “Take me to dinner tonight?”

“It’s a date,” Jane agreed, fighting the urge to take her hand and walk back to the bullpen with her.

There would be plenty of time for that later, right now he was completely content to bask in the glow of just knowing _they_ were back, and stronger than ever.

**_The End_**


End file.
